Leaping into the History of Lana’i

After a few days of luxurious relaxing on Lana’i I was ready to get dirty and really explore the island outside of its regions of Four Season’s luxury. I set out to learn more about the history of Lana’i and I quickly learned that South Lana’i’s Kaunolu trail is where you can find all of the stories of the past.

This trail on South Lana’i is only accessible by 4 wheel drive so I once again used the services of Steve Gelakoski who owns and runs Island Adventure Fitness to lead me through this hike and provide me some history and information along the way about what I was seeing.

Steve knows the island so well, it was quite amazing to simply hear his stories and learn more about the landscape, the wildlife, and the conservation/eco projects that were happening in Lana’i. On a side note – one of the things that the new owner of the island, billionaire Larry Ellison, wants to do is make it a laboratory for sustainability – he has some big plans and I found most of the locals cautiously optimistic about his ‘green’ plans.

Our red dirt trail down to the coast

Steve and I started at the top of the ridge hiking down the red dirt road ruts until we arrived at some old placards pointing out some historic sites. The signs and sites had honestly not been kept up to well, but you could see the outlines of some of the fishing village stone foundations. The old fishing village has a royal past that Lana’i is quite proud of.

“The ruins of Kamehameha’s favorite summer fishing retreat can still be seen in South Lanai. Called Kaunolu, this sacred spot and fishing village has been registered as a National Historic Landmark. Home to Halulu heiau (religious temple) you can also find ancient petroglyphs carved into the stones here.” –from GoHawaii.com Lanai History

A few foundations remain at Kanunolu Village

Once we arrived at the village the landscape near the sea changed – it was very rocky and we had to scramble up and down some steep rocks in order to get to the sacred heiau. The heiau had a beautiful view of the sea and we stopped and gazed out on all of the fishing boats who seemed to be having a great day fishing based on the shear number of them working in the channel. The area also was dotted with petroglyphs from ancient times. Some of the first inhabitants of Lana’i lived here. But be warned – this is a sacred place and visitors should not be climbing on these sites or the heiau. I talked to a few locals who actually won’t visit this area of the island since it gives them an ‘uneasy’ feeling.

Steve then led me to Kehekili’s Leap (aka Warrior’s Leap) where cliff diving was supposedly ‘created’ when King Kamehameha’s warriors proved their bravery by leaping aprox. 70 feet into the ocean below. I walked up to the edge gingerly, took a deep breath, and simply peered over the rock to the turbulent ocean below while I had a death grip on the rock next to me. This cliff seemed to come out of nowhere – which is what made it even more breathtaking. It is said that the water below is only about 15 ft. deep – and one must take a running start in order to clear the rocky coast below. Jumping off this cliff is something I will be happy to NEVER do.

However for those of you who get jazzed by heights and don’t need a barf bag – take a look at the Red Bull Cliff diving competition held in Lana’i in 2000 off of Kahekili’s Leap.

Finally the hard part of the hike came – the walk back up the treeless, barren landscape back to the truck. Steve was great and took lots of opportunities to rest and take in water else my stubbornness would have had me powering through and dehydrated I’m sure. The hike left me exhausted, thirsty and covered in red dirt – but I loved the chance to get out to this remote village and glimpse into the past.

Enjoying the Kaunolu hike – not a tree to be found…

Sure – you can actually drive down to Kaunolu village – but where’s the fun in that?

More Information:

Kaunolu Trail Difficulty: Medium to Hard (mainly because there are no trees to shade you and the walk back up the hill from the old fishing village is quite exhausting with no shade. Distance: About 3 miles round trip – but it depends on where you start from on the ridge. Landscape: Dry, barren, brushy landscape, old ruins, heiaus (old sacred temples), and shocking cliff views Guided Hiking: Island Adventure Fitness

Disclosure: I was a guest of Visit Lana’i as a part of their New Media Artist in Residence Program. Thanks to Samsung for sponsoring a few of my activities in Lana’i and gifting me a Samsung Galaxy SIII. All views expressed here are my own honest opinions and do not reflect the views of Visit Lana’i or Samsung.

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I'm Sherry, a corporate cube dweller turned nomadic traveler. I travel to off-the-beaten-path destinations to bring you unique travel experiences and photography. But it's not just about travel, it's also about life experiences of a middle age wanderer. New here? Then Start Here.